Ongoing US Mass Shooting Thread

[Displaced Flames fan]

Originally Posted by driveway

There have only been 7,000 war-deaths since the end of the Vietnam war.
This hardly constitutes anything like a "generation of fatherless children."

I would accept the argument if you were pointing to the incarceration rate of black men in America, but young black men aren't the ones doing these shootings. White men are.

Sure, but the orphans of WWII and Vietnam procreated. What kinds of fathers were they without the guidance of their own fathers? I think it is significant but not paramount.

[nfotiu]

Mass killings, terrorism, shark attacks... They all get way too much attention. Mass killings are just not statistically significant. Completely eliminating them would not make anyone any less likely to die in any measurable way. If my math is correct, Alberta had about 10 times the number of deaths by mass murder per capita than the US did last year. Even if there were no mass killings in Alberta for the next 9 years, Alberta would still likely have a higher rate of mass killings than the US over that 10 year period. Does that make Albertans a bunch of idiots too? No, I am just pointing out how statistically insignificant these deaths are. In a country of 300 million, about 3,000 people die every day from a preventable cause. Why focus so much attention on the handful that die every few weeks or months in mass killings?

Probably the most effective way to cut down on these events would be to tone down the news coverage. The massive amounts of attention they get seems to breed new attacks every time. The media should handle them like suicides, IMO.

I don't like guns. I don't own one and never would. I have no use for pro gun lobbies. I have to say though, that the only useful change in gun policy here would be one that eliminated a lot of guns out there. Having stringent background checks, eliminating assault rifles and anything similar are all fine and good, but are more about people feeling better that they did something than actually making the US a safer place. Unless it is a policy that eliminates half the guns that are already out there, it really is probably just a waste of time.

[SportsJunky]

Originally Posted by skudr248

Most American's are idiots. Plain and simple.

Not most. Some. I'll give you that. You are plain and simple.

[Red Slinger]

Originally Posted by nfotiu

Probably the most effective way to cut down on these events would be to tone down the news coverage. The massive amounts of attention they get seems to breed new attacks every time. The media should handle them like suicides, IMO.

I don't think you can or should eliminate the news coverage completely, not that you were suggesting that. Right now there is so much attention on the perpetrator of the killings rather than the victims, that in many cases the killer attains psuedo-celebrity status. If a mass-klling takes place I'd prefer to see the perpetrator largely ignored by the media, possibly even go un-named.

[Senator Clay Davis]

Two victims are a 21 year old female and a 33 year old female. From the sounds of the the suspect is a far right wing nut, some online posts of his praise the Westboro church as the only true church left.

[CaptainCrunch]

I found the rare situation where I agreed with the President about the need for freaking common sense gun control.

However its an impossible task because of the lobby groups and the gun crazed senators etc and the idiots that hide between a constitution gone wrong.

My heart breaks for the victims of these shooting and that's blood on the sleeves of the idiots in the NRA, the gun manufacturers and the people that thing that guns are the end all and be all of home defense and stopping the evil government.

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by Senator Clay Davis

Two victims are a 21 year old female and a 33 year old female. From the sounds of the the suspect is a far right wing nut, some online posts of his praise the Westboro church as the only true church left.

Religiously motivated killing? Goddam terrori...what's that? It was an old white guy? Damn mental illness issues are ruining this country.

[RyZ]

Originally Posted by ResAlien

Religiously motivated killing? Goddam terrori...what's that? It was an old white guy? Damn mental illness issues are ruining this country.

Who says its a religiously motivated killing? That hasnt been mentioned anywhere. It seems like you are jumping to conclusions based on a Facebook post.

[CaptainCrunch]

I don't know if this is religiously motivated, we won't know unless this guy left a note somewhere.

At the end of the game, I almost refuse to call this guy mentally ill, I'd prefer the term a%%hole.

[nik-]

Guys, he's spoofing the defense arguments in regards to mass shootings.

[ResAlien]

Originally Posted by RyZ

Who says its a religiously motivated killing? That hasnt been mentioned anywhere. It seems like you are jumping to conclusions based on a Facebook post.

What? That's preposterous. No one would do that. This is a situation that requires a patient examination of all the facts before anything is decided upon

[CroFlames]

I need to buy that book How to Even for Dummies. Because I can't even.

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

Sure, but the orphans of WWII and Vietnam procreated. What kinds of fathers were they without the guidance of their own fathers? I think it is significant but not paramount.

Can't think of any reason being an orphan would correlate to becoming a Wack job shooter, I think you'd have better luck blaming divorce or, if you want to get topical, immunization shots.

The reality is throughout history every population has a large number of whack jobs, most societies restrict their access to guns, the U.S. doesn't. Of those whack jobs a number decide to take out their rage on their wives and kids etc, an even smaller number take it out on anyone they can see.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by afc wimbledon

Can't think of any reason being an orphan would correlate to becoming a Wack job shooter, I think you'd have better luck blaming divorce or, if you want to get topical, immunization shots.

If anything, orphans have been shown to become our greatest heroes.

[Displaced Flames fan]

This showed up on my facebook page via Johnathan Meiburg from the band Shearwater. Jillian Johnson elegy.

http://theind.com/article-21434-Jill...82---2015.html

[afc wimbledon]

Originally Posted by Displaced Flames fan

This showed up on my facebook page via Johnathan Meiburg from the band Shearwater. Jillian Johnson elegy.

http://theind.com/article-21434-Jill...82---2015.html

Take time to scroll down and listen to the band she was part of, the figs, I don't give a #### what guns do for America, they arnt worth the price.

[HockeyIlliterate]

I was watching the evening news and it was noted that two people hurt in the Lafayette movie shooting had a go-fund-me account set up to help with their medical bills.

It struck me that in one simple story the fundamental failures of the US were revealed: It is a place where you can be gunned down indiscriminately by a mad-man who has the constitutional right to obtain his weapon, and where you must rely on the kindness and generosity of strangers to pay your medical bills incurred from the constitutionally protected mayhem.

[nfotiu]

Originally Posted by HockeyIlliterate

I was watching the evening news and it was noted that two people hurt in the Lafayette movie shooting had a go-fund-me account set up to help with their medical bills.

It struck me that in one simple story the fundamental failures of the US were revealed: It is a place where you can be gunned down indiscriminately by a mad-man who has the constitutional right to obtain his weapon, and where you must rely on the kindness and generosity of strangers to pay your medical bills incurred from the constitutionally protected mayhem.

Nice story but the two women are teachers and have decent insurance that will pay for most everything. If you read their gofundme, the point was to cover medical expenses not covered by insurance such as lost wages.

[T@T]

So the guy has at least 15 arrests including death threats to his family, arson and vandalizing a house and he passes a background check for a handgun purchase last year...well done America, well done.

[jar_e]

US is averaging a mass shooting per day right now...204 mass shootings in 204 days...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/...n-2015-so-far/

The Mass Shooting Tracker is different from other shooting databases in that it uses a broader definition of mass shooting. "The old FBI definition of Mass Murder (not even the most recent one) is four or more people murdered in one event," the site's creators explain. "It is only logical that a Mass Shooting is four or more people shot in one event."